Unique conversations
Leo Asuncion is Chair of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission. Paul Kjellander is PUF Senior Advisor and former Idaho PUC Chair.
Financial liability can be massive with wildfires and must be considered in an era of increased electric demand that also emphasizes affordability. As these big issues surrounding wildfires are raging, PUF spoke with four leaders on this important topic: Puget Sound Energy CEO Mary Kipp, Hawaii Public Utilities Commission Chair Leo Asuncion, Pacific Power President Ryan Flynn, and Rocky Mountain Power President Dick Garlish.
PUF's Paul Kjellander: A year ago, you were dealing with the energy transition, then in August there was a dramatic change due to the Lahaina fire.
Chair Leo Asuncion: Yes. The attention went first toward the residents of Lahaina. Next, was for the utilities to engage in getting the grid back up.
The Lahaina community was a midway point for the transmission lines for electricity and impacted other utilities in their operations. We have a couple of private water and wastewater companies there, and the telecoms. It was making sure that the service on either side of that community was brought back up.